Suspect arrested in connection to July garage, car fire

Authorities have arrested a man in connection to a July fire that damaged a garage and car in northwest Lincoln. 

Jail records show 19-year-old Coltyn Vajgrt was booked in Lancaster County Jail on Tuesday for third-degree arson.

On July 14, firefighters and police officers responded to the fire at a home near NW 13th and W Fletcher Ave. The resident reported waking up to a car alarm sounding and saw her roommate’s vehicle engulfed in flames. 

Flames from the vehicle eventually spread to an attached garage causing an estimated $40,000 in damage, officials said. 

Had the resident not been woken up by the car alarm, she “may have been significantly injured or killed” by the fire, according to court documents. 

Fire investigators later suspected the fire to be the result of arson, and that a piece of cardboard had been lit on fire and placed inside the vehicle, according to an arrest affidavit. 

Vajgrt had not been formally charged Wednesday morning, but was scheduled to appear in court on the charge Wednesday afternoon.